The Waikato Times..

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1199, 4 March 1880, Page 2

The Waikato Times..

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawcd by influence and unbribed by gain.

THURSDAY, MARCH I

With the growth of towns, comes generally a desire to provide a means of healthful recreation for the inhabitants, and no niatt<*r calls for rarlicr attention than tins. When

townships grow into towns, and they in turn become cities, the value of suburban lands becomes so great as almost to preclude the possibility of obtaining anything in the shape of recreation grounds. Time will demonstrate the wisdom of those who, in the early days of the settlement of this district, were the means of setting apart ample space for this purpose. The majority of our Waikato towns are well provided in this respect, and in regard to those which are not so favorably circumstanced, active steps are being taken to get the necessary land reserved. We have already noticed and commended the action of the Te Awamutu people in this direction. It must not be forgotten, however, that notwithstanding the fact that ample reserves have oeen set apart, there exists at present, except in the case of Hamilton, no public body which is by law entitled to the control and disposition of these lands. At the present, our remarks refer especially to Cambridge. The only local authority is the Town Board, whose duties are confined to the oversight of the different roads and streets within the town, and which has no power whatever to deal with the public reserves. Too small to be entitled to municipal rights'} and, indeed, in no way anxious to be burdened with a corporation, Cambridge is yet attaining such importance as to demand from those entrusted with its affairs some efforts towards obtaining the use of its reserves for itself, and for the recreation of its inhabitants. From correspondencethat has been courteously placed at our disposal, we are pleased to see that the local Board are alive to their duty. At the end of last year the Waste Lands Board advertised certain sections in the town of Cambridge East for sale, whereupon the Town Board wrote, on December 24th, to the Resident Minister at Auckland, the Hon. F. Whitaker, desiring that, as these sections had with others been applied for as an endowment for the town, they should be withdrawn from sale. In reply, a telegram was received from Mr Tole, the Chairman of the Waste Lands Board and Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands, asking to be supplied with a list of the sections required to be reserved. This information was at once forwarded ; the list comprising 48 allotments in Cambridge East, consisting of about 49 acres, and about 45 acres in Cambridge West. Consequent upon this the reserves advertised were withdrawn from sale. Subsequently, the Chairman of the Town Board wrote to the Minister of Lands, describing the present state of the town belt and lagoon reserves, the former of which is little better than a wilderness of fern, ti-tree, and gorse — an eyesore to everybody, and a source of trouble and annoyance to those whose sections adjoin it, while the banks of the latter are in a similar condition, and the lake itself utterly useless. The letter recommends the appointment of a board of trustees, composed partly of members of the Town Board, and partly of the members of the Pukekura Highway Board, in whom the whole of the reserves should be vested. There is, however, no Act under which this can be done, and tne Board have further urged upon the Attorney-General the necessity for a short Act which would enable the Government to grant their request. To this Mr Whitaker has promised his favourable consideration ; and so the matter stands. As the Board cannot hope, with its present and immediately prospective revenue, to undertake the work of reclaiming and beautifying the recreation reserve known as the Town Belt, it will be constrained to lease it in some way, making it incumbent upon the lessees, in addition to paying rental, to beautify and in other ways render it fit for recreative purposes ; and as this will be the work of years, it will be at once seen that the action taken by that body is in no way premature. Whatever revenue may be derived from this, shall, it is intended, be applied to adorn the Lagoon reserve, a spot, from its natural beauty, in every way well adapted for the purposes to which it is proposed to devote it. With regard to the other matter, that of obtaining the reserved allotments in the township, the extensive improvementa in street formation and drainage meditated by the Board will require a large accession to their revenue which could legitimately be augmented in this way. The demands we have referred to seem only to be what is just and fair, and we have every confidence that the Government will be brought to this way of thinking, and will grant the request as speedily as may be.

It is somewhat extraordinary that no notice was taken by the Borough Council at yesterday's meeting of the resignations — which, we presume, are in the hands of the Clerk — of the Mayor, and Crs. Cumming, Knox, and McDonald. It may be as well to understand that the vacancies in the Council is a matter which admits of no delay in being dealt with : the remaining members seem not to be aware of this ; nevertheless, such is a fact. The Clerk should, without any further delay, conveiiu a nwtting, read the resignations, which alwtjlti bo accepted or not — pro for mo, —as (iguncillors think fit, and notice in aceovdaiw«« with the Municipal Corporations* j <W aliouJd follow jjnijjorjjatolv. !

Colonel Leckie will arrive in Hamiltou to-day on his visit of inspection to the Waikato, and will first visit tho Cambridge and Te Awamutu district*, returning to Hamilton for Tuesday, the 9th instant, on which day there will be a parade of the Hamilton Light Infantry Company. There will be drill parades during the week nightly, and it is to be hoped members will take the opportunity of attending regularly, and so enable the company to make a creditable appearance when paraded by the Colonel Leckie. As an erroneous opinion has got abroad in reference to the new arrangements between the Railway authorities and the Steam Navigation Company, to the effect that the Company are not carrying Hamilton goods, we refer the public to the Waikato Stemn Navigation Company's advertisements for full information. As we understand it, the only alteration is, that all freights are now taken in from the railway at Ngaruawahia, instead of at Mercer, as heretofore. Mr Justice Gillies and Mrs Gillies were passengers en route to England, by the Mail Steamer to San Francisco on Tuesday. His Honor may be expected back in the colony about the beginning of next year. A Mw Zealand Gazette of the 26th ult. contains the proclamation defining the the middle line of a further portion of the Waikato Thames railway (part of the Waikato contracti) * It cannot be doubted that an unwise policy has been followed by the District Boards in laying such fine gravel upon the roads between Hamilton and Cambridge. In dry weather the dust arising therefrom is almost unbearable, while during the rain the sand used, from its earthy nature, becomes so soft as to allow of its being penetrated by the wheels of heavy vehicles, thus cutting up the ground underneath. Some of the newly gravelled roads present a marked contrast to those treated with coarser metal five or six years ago. The numerous crops of turnips sown this season have vastly improved with the late rain. During the dry weather in January, some of them fared so poorly, as to necessitate a re-sowing, but now they are all going on splendidly. The face of the country has altogether changed for the better during the last few days, aud most encouraging accounts of the state of pastures have come in from the out-lying districts. The competition firing at floating bottles in Cambridge, on Saturday next, will be for a prize generously presented to the Cavalry Troop by Mr John Douglass. Mr B. McLean, a member of the Auckland Cattle Board, arrived in Hamilton on Tuesday night, and proceeded yesterday to Cambridge to meet the Farmers Club and make arrangements, on the authority of the Government, for the establishment of a cattle district and Cattle Board for Waikato. A high price given for stud sheep is money laid out to better advantage, than sheep breeding merely for the wool and mutton. Of course this can only be the case where a manbringspractical skill and sound judgment to the work. We are led to these remarks from the success which has attended the enterprise of Mr Patrick Leslie of Wartle, as a breeder of pure Lincoln Sheep. He has lately sold a number of sheep at high prices, End amongst the purchasers are Messrs E. B. Walker, D. McNicott, Thomas Cawkwell and Richard Reynolds. For two four-tooth rams, Mr Leslie, we believe, obtained higher prices than have hitherto been realized by any breeder of pure bred sheep in the North Island. Mr McNicol gave £10 each for ram lambs, which animals we have no doubt will be heard of as prize takers some of these days. Mr Leslie has, we are informed, sold all his grade flock and devotes the whole of his attention to the breeding of pure sheep, and it says a good deal for them, when such men as those above mentioned believe they can improve their flocks by recruiting from them. We regret to learn that Mr R. J. De Lias, the enterprising lessee of the Theatre Royal, Auckland, is leaving the colony, and disposing of the Theatre property. The last of the first batch of summonses issued by the Borough Council, for overdue rates, was heard at the R.M. Court yesterday, March 3rd; judgments were given in all cases for amounts claimed with costs. This should act as a warning to parties who have not paid their rates for the current year, as the Borough Council intend to take active steps for recovery of outstanding amounts still due. We do not remember having seen a finer crop of potatoes, even in an old garden, than that now being taken up at Claudelands, East Hamilton, on the suburban estate of Mr F. A. Whitaker. The potatoes, as they are dug up, literally fill the spaces between the rows in a curved line. At the time we visited the ground a sixth of an acre had been dug and bagged, and the produce was two and a-half tons of large potatoes, or at the rate of 15 tons to the acre. Independently of this there were about as near as we could guess, nearly half a ton of smaller sized potatoes which had been picked out. This would give a gross yield of nearly 18 tons to the acre. The manure used was cow croppings, which had been brought with a heap from the adjacent field. The remainder of the crop was turning out equally as well as the portion bagged. The Bridges on the west side the Waipa River require immediate attention, and more especially those over the Mungkowliai and Kauiwhamawhaua streams. These bridges have now been erected between eight and nine years, and the decking of both of them requires to be taken up or repaired, as it is in a great measure rotten. The approach to the punt on the west side is also very dangerous, and it is too bad that life and property should be risked to save a comparatively trifling outlay of labour. At the punt itoelf there are do proper appliances for making it fast, and some rtny or other a horse will get partly on to the punt when the latter will move away and drop the animal into the river ; but, bad as the punt is for horsemen it is far worse for vehicles. We would recommend the matter to the immediate attention of the authorities, for it will be a considerable time before the bridge can possibly be erected and opened for traffic, and till then the present state of things cannot possibly be continued, Mr I. R. Vialous's horse and cart met with an accident yesterday in turning off the street into that gentlemans premises. The cart, on which was a large case, turned over in crossing the unformed pavement, and tho hor«e fell under the shafts. There was fortunately plenty of assistance at hand, and the harness having been unfastened and the cart removed, the horse got on his legs little the worse for the accident. At the R. M. Court yesterday, before H. W. Northcroft, Esq., R. M.— W. Reynolds was charged with being drunk in the Borough on Tuesday night, also with a breach of the Vagrant Act, in using obscene and threatening language. Prisoner pleaded guilty to the first charge i but said he knew nothing of the second, i •Sergeant MeGovem said he had been J charged with a similar offence about a j year ago, aud was fined £5 and costs. ' The Bench lined prisoner ."5s and costs on j the first charge, and £3 and costs, or three jnoijths imprisonment on the second

charge. Civil side — Land tax — B. McLean v. T. N. Hill ; claim, £2. B. McLean £1 5s sd, sworn : said he was collector of land tax, judgment for plaintiff, with costs, £1 14s 9d. A large number of laud tax cases were on for liearing but had been settled out of court. An invitation to take part in a review to be held at the Thames in Easter week has been sent by Major Murray to t^e Waikato Cavalry Volunteers, and a meeting of that body will be held on Saturday to make the necessary arrangements for taking part in the proposed review. No doubt the question of expense will have to be taken into consideration, for although the Cavalry will go overland, and railway accommodation will not be required, there is the expense of forage for their horses to be taken into consideration, and of the necessary commissariat upon the road, both going and coming, for the journey must necessarily occupy part of two days, or the horses would arrive in too jaded a condition to make a creditable appearance on the review ground, ifter so long a journey performed in heavy marching order. Then again it is exceedingly desirable that the troops should muster as fully as possible, that the movement should be one of the entire force, and there are many among the Cavalry who could ill afford to give up three or four days from their ordinary employment. It is not, therefore, we think, too much to expect that the Government should consent to allow those of the Cavalry attending the review pay, at the same rate as is given during the half-yearly drills. Reviews are held for the purpose of furthering the military efficiency of the Volunteers, it is only fair that the expense they entail should fall upon the State. It is no small matter that the patriotism of individuals saves the colony from the expense of levying and maintaining as large a force for its protection as it otherwise must do, and the least that can be expected is that it should pay for the training of its Volunteers. To maintain the efficiency of the force is really the duty of the Government, because in the event of attack, either from within or from without, the defence of the country is the affair of the Government. As we have said, the patriotism of a few supplies a force which only neods a certain amount of fostering care, and a comparatively small expenditure, to render it the nucleus of a strong defensive body, when ever the services of such a force may be required, and we therefore trust that a becoming and wise liberality will be shown by the Government in this matter "We have already referred to the advantageous results which follow these mixed Cavalry and Infantry reviews, accustoming the I men to being handled in the field, and ' promoting good comradeship between forces, which would otherwise be strangers to each other, but which at any time may for the common safety be required to act in unison and concert with each other. There will, we believe, be but one feeling among the Waikato Cavalry Volunteers, and that will be to muster, if possible, to the last man to take part in the proposed demonstration. Choice op Wheat pok Seed. — There are comparatively few among our agriculturists (says the North Otago Times) who care about extending their knowledge by simple experiments on farms. This is, perhaps, to be regretted, as from simple experiments have sprung most of the , benefits which farmers at the present day are reaping in improvements in the different kinds of grain. Within the last few years improvements have been made in wheat and oats, and these are altogether the result of experience gained by experiments. A farmer in the Oamaru district, imbued wtth the laudable ambition of benefiting himself, and at the same time extending the usefulness of his experience to others, has been experimenting in the growth of an improved description of wheat. The result is that by careful cultivation, and attending to other necessary details, a first class variety of wheat lias rewarded his efforts. From one stool, taken at random from the plot, I 97 stalks branched out, and each of these averaged about 80 pickles. This is close on 800 fold, and even a much smaller average is a vast improvement on many of the older varieties grown. Many of the varieties of wheat at present cultivated only give seven stalks to each stool, and 40 pickles to each stalk. This is but 280-fold. It will be seen from the foregoing that even one-half the return of this improved wheat would be a great advance on anything at present grown, and if the experiment is worth anything at all it is certainly worth all the trouble taken to produce a superior variety of wheat.

Wr arc requested to draw the attention of those interested, to the notice from the Proprietary of this journal appearing over the leading column, referring to overdue accounts. Tin- concert in connection with the Presbyterian Church, Ngaruawahia, takes place on Wednesday evening, 17th in.st. Mr F. G. Evans has got leave of absence for a short time to recruit his health, and Mr Nome will officiate in his absence. Mr William Powell has been appointed agent for this journal at Raglan. Thk date for the reception of tenders for certain worfis for the Cambridge N. T. D. B. is altered from the 10th to the Bth inst. A sj'ixiAr. meeting of the Cambridge Farmers' Club is convened for 7 p.m. on Friday next, at the Club House. We hope every member, considering the grc.it importance of the matters to be brought under notice, will make a point of attending. Edward Wilson, a debtor, intends to apply for an order of discharge on the 16th instant, or as soon after as the District Court sits. A grand vocal and instrumental concert in aid of the building fund of the Catholic Church, will be held in the Public Hall, Te Awamutu, next Thursday. The affair is likely to be more than ordinarily successful, several leading amateurs having promised their assistance. Ni..\t Saturday, Mr. Bright will sell by auction at the shop of Mr E. AVayte, Cambridge, the whulo ot the elegant Chemist's and Stationer)' Shop Fittings. Mr John Knox will sell at 2 p.m. on Saturday, at the Wharf Store, jewellry, watches, clocks, toys, table cutlery, plated goods, bridles, draper), Bee.